I’m almost certain that a puzzling questioning gaze would accompany the listing of Dame Joan Iheoma Oji among the privileged rank of movers and shakers, majority of whom had their uninspiring input tying this country to its benighted rudderless status. Unfortunately, these are the faces you see gracing the front pages of glossy, celebrity magazines as icons. Not the affirmative face of Joan Oji, a woman who has lived it, felt it and now sharing her unbelievable triumph over artificial boundaries and denigrating fixations placed on the girl child in many societies. Some would even ask, in their usual arrogant posture and with noses thrown to the sky, ‘Joan Oji? Who is that?’ Somehow, I wouldn’t blame them. In a society where mediocrity is celebrated with pomp and panache while true heroes often end up unsung, the Joan Oji narrative may sound commonplace to those whose humanity has been weighed down by the mercantilist idealism of the modern world. Yet, the remarkable story of this 60-year-old woman is that kind of stuffs that should inspire hope in many who have given up the dream of ever triumphing over the inexplicable tragedies of life and living. In a sense, Oji could be described as your everyday Nigerian woman who confronts the harsh realities of surviving in a society where little or scant regards is placed on the dignity of the woman mostly by men who gloat over their vain superiority. In another sense, it is more about a determination to break through the enervating societal barriers and emerging triumphant on the other side of a vexing divide. That, in a nutshell, is why I find myself writing about the riveting trajectory of Joan Oji this festive season to a add a glint of hope on the faces those who, though alive to witness yet another Christmas, have refused to smile.
For the vulnerable ones who have thrown in the towel and have surrendered it all to the gripping tales of hopelessness, the Joan Oji story is a testimonial to the saying that impossibility is nothing only if we believe. Born on June 6, 1957, Joan, an only surviving child of five siblings, barely managed to complete her primary education in the civil war-ravaged South-East Nigeria having lost her father at the age of 11. For a young girl, one can only wonder what the experience was when hail of bullets, fire and anguish reigned supreme in those better-forgotten days. At a time when early marriage had truncated the educational pursuits of many women, Joan Okparaeze’s marriage to Mazi Josiah Oji at the age of 16 appeared to be the engine that fired her resolve for academic excellence. Remarkably, Joan was already a mother of six (6) out of her eight (8) daughters when she was admitted to study Language Arts at the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. Before then, she was already a proud holder of a Teacher’s Grade Two Certificate and Nigeria Certificate in Education. She topped it with a First Class Honours Degree in Education (Language Arts), emerging as the winner of the Dean’s Prize for the Best All Round Graduating Student in the Faculty. Other laurels, too numerous to list on this page, were to follow.
The word multitasking is deeply enmeshed in the life of Joan going by the testimonies given by friends and associates at a reception held in her honour last Sunday in Abuja. To some, she is the best teacher of the English Language with the simplicity with which she dissects the knotty crevices of the grammar. To others, she is a moralist, humanist and orator. Some see her as an author of inspiring books which traverse different genres of literature including a collection of her late husband’s witty sayings and quotes. Some would even stick with her philanthropy amid the arduous task of raising eight graduate daughters spread across major professions including law, medicine, accounting, sciences, engineering, architecture and town planning. How, if I may ask, was this woman, whose story began to unravel that late in life, able to stand firm in a world where many in her shoes would have given up childbirth? This question could be the singular reason why most of the women that spoke on the day said she remains the quintessential role model and one of the strongest voices for the girl child as reflected in her book, The Girl Child: How We Raised Eight (2017).
For Knucklehead, the Joan Oji story is fascinatingly humbling because of the way our path crossed some 16 years ago in my local church here in Abuja. Whilst etching that infectious smile through her pains and anguish following the death of her husband at age 50, she excelled as the first female people’s warden (treasurer) and many other positions that she was eminently appointed to make a difference. Arguably one of the leading practical Christianity preachers around, Joan employs her personal encounters, travails and challenges to elicit the fine principles of fate and faith in our journeys through life. She breaks the teachings of the Bible into simple doctrines and challenges the congregation on the dire consequences of treating with levity the spiritual context of quotidian living. And, as a chorister since 1965, you are doubtlessly sure that Joan’s preaching as a Lay Pastoral Assistant would be incomplete without her embellishing it with songs and praises. That was my first attraction.
The second is not necessarily personal but gleaned from the testimonies of those who know her. Of course, to say that she is without fault would be dressing her in borrowed garbs. Joan would be the first to reject such jejune moniker. She knows when and how to apply the brakes especially when a handshake is going beyond the elbow. She can be firm and decisively stubborn. This is what some misread as arrogance. Naturally, it hurts when such people decide to speak truth to power be it in the church or elsewhere. Above all, she loves what she does and has not stopped horning her skills as she looks forward to becoming a PhD Degree holder in English Language in few weeks from now. Retired but not tired at 60, Joan has established a foundation—the Josiah and Joan Oji Foundation for Girls and Teens with the sole aim of “getting parents to appreciate their children by giving them equal opportunities to attain greatness in life.”
With eight daughters living their dreams in different fields of human endearvours, Joan Oji has broken the artificial glass ceiling placed on the education of the girl child in our society. This grandmother to 14 children and mother-in-law to 7 men and still counting do have a lot to thank God for.
If she had sat with arms crossed as a teenage wife without her husband spurring her to soar higher, we probably wouldn’t be celebrating her today as a living symbol of the can-do-it spirit in those who dare to question a presumed fate with the faith that better things are always in the horizon for those who dare to be different. That is the story of Joan Oji, the woman of steel whose steely resolve shook down the barricades of limitations. It is a story that should spur those who are silently chewing their pain as if their destiny depends on the evil machinations of leaders that continuously impoverish them over the years. What Joan says is that we all need to shake it off because, in the final analysis, there is nothing “that you have that is not given to you.” Is that not the crying truth?
Merry Christmas!
